Dave Smith

With winds gusting to 15mph, I took my new R/C plane, the Stryker, out for its maiden flight. If you’ve been following the build log (part 1 and part 2), you already know that it’s outfitted with a Tower Pro 2409-12 motor, a Blue Arrow 30A ESC, an 8-cell NiMH battery (9.6V), and a 7×6 slow flyer prop. The maiden results are in:

• Flights: 3
• Aileron Rolls: 2
• Split S’s: 1 (accidental)
• Immelmans: 1
• Landings: 3
• Crashes: 0

I am very pleased with the results. The plane flies fast and responsive. Only a few clicks of right trim were needed on takeoff for level flight. The glide ratio is exactly perfect for slow, controlled, short runway landings. I am very impressed with this plane. Even with my wimpy 8-cell NiMH battery, it seems to fly around 50mph in the flats. I think when I go to LiPo, it’ll be closer to 70mph. The final speed upgrade will be a 7×7 prop, and that should put me right at 80mph. Wow.

Here’s a video of the takeoff (you can tell how windy it is by my hair blowing straight up and back):

Here’s a video of some aerobatics during the first flight. It starts with the first roll this plane has even performed, which turned into more of a Split-S since the ailerons were on low rates (50% travel):

And finally the landing. I bobbled a little on the approach, but the touchdown was nice and smooth. I love belly-scraping planes like this. They land so much better than geared planes on uneven terrain:

I was pretty nervous flying this plane for the first time, but I’m not nearly so afraid of repairing this plane as my Formosa, since it’s all one piece of foam. Hopefully I won’t have to find out how hard it is to repair.

I finished my Stryker RC plane today. The only thing I had left to do was mount the motor, which I am very pleased with. I decided to use the stock motor mount with a very small adaptation to mount the Tower Pro 2409-12 motor that I bought from unitedhobbies.com. I used a technique I read about on one of the RC forums (rcgroups, rcuniverse, wattflyer) involving the plastic lid of a soda bottle. Since the 2409-12’s mount holes are in different positions than the stock motor mount, I drilled 3 holes into the bottle cap to mount into. I used my razor blade to chop away the vertical cylinder of the lid, leaving only the flat disk, which fits perfectly inside the Stryker mount. Here’s a picture of the sode bottle lid bolted into the stock motor mount (on the other side sits the aluminum mount that came with the 2409-12 motor):

The bolts included with the motor from unitedhobbies.com were too short to fit through both the bottle lid the stock mount, so I had to buy some 2-56 metric bolts from Radio Shack for $1.99 (the motor 2409-12 mount’s holes are drilled for a 2mm bolt). From the back, you can see how the three bolts protrude with plenty of room:

The bottom bolt fits into the bottom hole of the stock mount, but the other two sit at approximately 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock. The mount is amazingly sturdy as the bottle cap and mount are squeezed in between the bolts’ washers and the aluminum mount. While working with the mount, I realized I needed to remove the bell from the motor mount to accommodate my fat fingers. After I mounted the aluminum plate, I put the motor back on using the two Allen screws. Here’s what it looks like ready to fly:

I did some glide tests and partial-power tests in my backyard today and it seems to fly level and smooth. I had to spend some quality time with my DX6 to adjust the servo travels because it seemed that when I applied full back stick, the right elevon moved farther than the left elevon. I knew that this would cause the plane to roll, so I reduced the elevator channel’s travel down to 50% in both directions. That’s what it took to make the two elevons move evenly with elevator. I setup low rates at around 70% for both elevator and aileron channels and they seem pretty good. I think I will probably fly the maiden flight with the elevator on high rates and the aileron on low rates. The maiden flight will probably happen this week some time.

For the maiden, I’ll try to borrow a friend’s Align 2200mah 3S lipo, which should provide lots of power. If it’s not available, I’ll use my 8-cell 1500mah NiMH pack. Currently the CG seems to be spot on with the 8-cell pack.

I started building a Parkzone Stryker last night. So far I’ve spent $25 on the fuselage and elevons, and this is what it looks like:

This airplane has been very easy to put together. The elevons clip on with no glue and are pre-hinged. The battery compartment is very spacious, and the servo holes are pre-cut. This took me less than an hour to do.

Here’s what I have left:

• Install the vertical fins.
• Mount a motor (considering the Tower Pro 2408-21, reverse mounted on the stock motor mount).
• Secure the battery with a velcro strap.

Here’s a shot from the back for the curious:

I thought there was such a thing as etiquette among experienced R/C pilots. Today I was provided with a poignant counter-example.

I was flying my newly rebuilt GWS Formosa, and was having a great time. After two successful landings and several great maneuvers, I was in the air for the third time. I was still in the process of trimming and working out a problem with thrust angle when a man showed up at the field ready to fly. He braggingly announced himself as an experienced pilot and told me (with my plane still in the air) that he was about to go stand on my runway to launch his plane. I asked him to please wait while I land my plane. He proceeded toward my runway anyway.

At this point panic started to set in as I setup for a landing, hoping he wouldn’t arrive at my runway before my plane did. He was lucky, because as I pulled my plane around for its final approach, I forgot about my thrust angle problem and nosed in to the ground hard, about 100 feet short of my anticipated landing spot. This of course crushed the plane’s nose and broke the prop. This time I’m not sure if I can rebuild without buying a new airframe.

So here’s today’s R/C pilot etiquette rule: When someone is flying, don’t walk in front of them. Seems like a no-brainer to me, but apparently that’s news to some, even “experienced pilots”.

I was able to finally get my GWS Formosa back in the air today. This time I was smart and setup dual rates on my ailerons. I have them set to only move 40% of full when I put the “Ail D/R” switch at 0 on my radio. That saved my bacon! The plane is a lot easier to fly like that. This flight, I noticed that the plane wanted to roll left hard. This is probably because I didn’t dial any thrust offset into my motor when I re-mounted it. I tried trimming in the air, but decided to land and do the trimming on the ground because I could see that it was going to be more than a few clicks. On the landing I came in a bit too bumpy and broke my prop. That’s when I realized I had forgotten to bring any spares. Oh well, the next flight will have to wait a day! I’ll hopefully have some good flight video next time.

I mounted my friend’s all-weather Oregon Scientific camera to his EasyStar today and took some aerial video near my office. We mounted the camera sideways right in the EasyStar’s cockpit. Here are the results:

Today I visited the Jordan River Modelport on a whim to see what was going on during the holiday. I was surprised to find only a single flier there, named Micah, which I got to know as I watched him pilot his 62″ .60-sized 4-stroke gas plane. What a great bird! He was a very aggressive flyer pulling out all the stops at low altitudes. With such a beefy motor he had unlimited climb, and he made use of every bit of it.

On his third flight, he handed me the controls. Boy was I nervous, but I pulled off an aileron roll, snap roll, and even an Immelman maneuver. Great fun! There was more wind than I would have dared fly my Super Cub in, but this plane handled it like it wasn’t there. A great day at the flying field!

I built a Multiplex EasyStar for a friend last week. We bought the receiver ready version, so it came with servos and motor mounted, and fuselage almost totally assembled. It wasn’t much of a build. The motor is slightly underpowered with a 7-cell NiMH battery, so we’re upgrading the ESC and throwing in an 8-cell NiMH pack. I’m sure it’ll do much better.

The maiden flight went very well. The best indicator of a good flight is a smooth landing, which this video shows:

This video shows some of the aerobatics the plane is capable of with stock motor:

Today we went out and thermaled it from the heat of our park’s parking lot. I kept it in the air for about 5 minutes with no power. It was great.

Today I had the distinct pleasure of watching several talented R/C pilots fly some amazing aircraft at the Jordan River Modelport. The first plane I saw was a GWS Corsair built and flown by Brent Hecht. Brent clipped, sanded and spackled the wings to improve aerobatics and cut down on the weight (much like full scale modern Corsairs). The plane rolled very well and had a top speed of around 60mph. Looked fantastic in the air. Incidentally, Brent and I use the same radio.

Next up was the F4D Skyray scratch-built and piloted by Rodger Hecht. Here’s a shot of it next to a ParkZone J3 Cub:

I’m told this plane can hit speeds of 100mph. It rolls so fast it has earned the nick name “the drill bit”. It uses pneumatic retractable landing gear. After the second take-off, one of the 3 gears failed to retract, so Rodger inverted the plane and applied some negative G’s to put the wheel away. Worked like a charm!

Chris Hecht played with his newly built GWS P-51d Mustang using (ironically) a Park Zone Mustang power plant, gearbox, and radio:

It flew quite well too and Chris handled it like a pro.

Last to fly today was the F18 Blue Angle, another one of Rodger Hecht’s creations.

I’ve never seen such a scale model fighter plane in both looks and behavior. Rodger pulled a cobra at one point, and (until the very end), I would have sworn it was the real thing. From a distance, it’s hard to tell if this is a model or not:

Unfortunately, the model lacks landing gear, so it has to find soft grass to land on. During its last landing, it almost augured into the bank of a small ditch we didn’t notice. Here’s the fresh landing shot (no damage to the plane):

What a great day at the flying field. Big thanks to the Hecht family for letting me spectate.

I am planning on attending the Electric Fun Fly this June 23rd at the Jordan River Modelport. Hope to see you there!

I just completed my GWS Formosa R/C airplane and it is ready to fly. Here’s a play-by-play with pictures of the whole process.

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